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Tag Archives: David Blatt
CAVS 3 BIGGEST CONCERNS HEADING ONTO THIS SEASON
1) DEFENSE – Adding LeBron James and Kevin Love along with shooters Mike Miller and James Jones brings a ton of offense and outside shooting, but three out of those four aren’t known for their defensive prowess. LeBron is the only one of that group that consistently plays defense with grit and determination. Shawn Marion will help as a wing defender, but he’s not a spring chicken any more. The need for a rim protector is REAL. Anderson Varejao, Tristan Thompson, and if he can play at all, Brendan Haywood, aren’t feared shot blockers. Add in that Kyrie Irving has yet to play defense in his three years in the league, and Dion Waiters is a liability as well, the Cavs have some serious issues on the defensive side of the ball. Those deficiencies need to be addressed either by adding an “Eraser at the Rim” or for the current players to show more determination and give more effort. Hopefully LeBron’s leadership and defensive make up will rub off on everyone on the team.
2) TEAM CHEMISTRY – Ego’s will have to be checked at the door the first day of training camp. Shot attempts are going to have to be divided up amongst a number of ball dominate players, and point totals are going to have to be sacrificed for the betterment of the team in order for this mixture of superstars, all-stars and up and coming stars to gel and turn this group into a true championship contending team. That’s not going to be easy when a number of these players are used to being the number one or two option on every team they’ve played for. How soon this happens, if it happens, could determine how far the Cavaliers can go in 2014-15.
3) HEAD COACH – David Blatt was an “Outside the Box Thinking” hire by first year G.M. David Griffin. Blatt has been a successful head coach for many years overseas, but never in the NBA. How will he transition to dealing with the ego’s that we mentioned earlier? With the rule changes that the NBA game brings? And how will he handle coaching against veteran NBA coaches night in and night out? Blatt as the head coach may be the biggest uncertainty facing this team as the season begins and moves forward. “Griff” has surrounded him with former NBA players as well as former NBA head coaches, so that should help, but David Blatt is still the man in charge and he needs to create his own identity, philosophy and style with his team. What is that? What will that be? Can the European game translate from a coaching standpoint to the NBA? We’re going to find out, and when we do, David Griffin will either have made his first mistake as a G.M., or he’ll continue to look like the basketball “Boy Wonder” genius he’s looked like this entire off-season.
CAVS HEAD COACH TALKS KEVIN LOVE AND ANDREW WIGGINS WITH SI.COM
What does new Cavaliers head coach David Blatt think of Kevin Love and Andrew Wiggins? Listen to this interview he did with SI.com – Sports Illustrated Now.
http://www.si.com/nba/video/2014/08/01/cavs-coach-blatt-evaluates-love-and-wiggins … via @SInow
CAVS TIP INS
As I’ve been saying for a while now, it’s not a matter of if Kevin Love will be traded to the Cavs, it’s a matter of when and for who. It’s funny how when some local media members report this, it doesn’t carry much weight, but when some national media members report it, after being late to the party again, it’s gospel. Just remember a lot of those same national media members with the exception of Chris Sheridan, didn’t think LeBron James was coming back to Cleveland when a number of us local media members had it on good authority that “The King” would return.
My sources tell me that Cavs G.M. David Griffin is still trying to do everything he can to not include Andrew Wiggins in the Kevin Love deal. However, the Cavs understand that it may end up costing them this year’s number #1 overall pick, as well as last year’s first overall choice, Anthony Bennett along with at least one first round pick in 2015 to get Flip Saunders of the T-Wolves to channel his inner Monte Hall and say, “Let’s make that deal!” As I’ve been saying for weeks now, don’t be surprised if the 76ers and the name Thadeus Young surface should the Love trade need to involve a third team.
Saunders, who is Minnesota’s “Mr. Basketball” now – part owner, president of basketball ops and head coach, realizes he must replace a franchise type player in Love with another franchise type player in Wiggins. None of the other deals from Chicago or Golden St. include a player who has the potential to be a franchise caliber player like Wiggins, who they can control for a while with a player friendly contract. Remember the earliest a deal could happen involving Wiggins because of the 30 day NBA rule involving rookie players who have signed their contracts is August 23rd.
The Cavs are trying to convince the Timberwolves that Dion Waiters is also a franchise type player and they’re hoping his play during the Team USA select squad practices will back up their argument. So here’s hoping Waiters is performing well in “Sin City”.
Speaking of Waiters, while I wasn’t a proponent of taking him with the 4th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, I have to give the Cavs shooting guard credit for what I’ve seen and heard from him this off season. Waiters has lost weight and looks ripped. He is part of Team USA’s young select squad that is practicing against Team USA’s varsity squad if you will in Las Vegas, and at least sounds like he understands he’ll have to change and improve his game somewhat in certain areas to become a better player. The latter is based on these comments he made recently in Vegas –
“I have to make adjustments. I like to have the ball, and we have Kyrie, and he likes to have the ball. So I have to find ways to impact the game without having the ball. I’m planning to go watch tape to see what D-Wade did when he played with LeBron. I need to learn how to be effective out there with him.”
This is the same Waiters though who recently told Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com that, “I want to start and I believe that I should at the two.” I don’t have a problem with that comment because almost every player in the NBA wants to start and believes they should. Plus if Andrew Wiggins has to be included in the Kevin Love deal, Waiters would be the Cavaliers best option to start at the two, even though I think his best role is coming off the bench as the 6th man.
If Kyrie Irving doesn’t make Team USA’s basketball squad, might that benefit him more in the long run because it should humble him and motivate him to work even harder on his all-around game? Uncle Drew is reportedly in a tough battle with Derrick Rose, John Wall and Damian Lillard for the two pure point guard spots that Team USA director Jerry Colangelo wants to fill on the squad. However, don’t discount the fact that his former college coach Mike Krzyzewski, remains as Team USA’s head coach, and that may carry some serious weight in the decision making process.
New Cavs head coach David Blatt spent some time recently talking about his new job with the gang from NBA-TV in Las Vegas at a Team USA practice. Watch Here – – http://www.nba.com/video/channels/aiming_for_gold/2014/07/29/20140729-usab-camp-blatt.nba/#$/video/channels/aiming_for_gold/2014/07/29/20140729-usab-camp-blatt.nba/index.html …
PREVIEWING THE NBA’S EASTERN CONFERENCE TOP TEN TEAMS
When LeBron James left Miami for Cleveland he weakened one franchise, strengthened another and changed the entire landscape of the Eastern Conference. Other teams made moves as well, some got stronger, some not so much.
Here are my rankings of the top 10 teams in the East with each squad’s projected starting lineup and first three players off the bench. This off course is subject to change based on trades and other free agent signings in the future.
1 Chicago Bulls (48-34) HC- Tom Thibodeau
PG- Derrick Rose SG- Jimmy Butler SF- Mike Dunleavy PF- Pau Gasol C- Joakim Noah
Bench – Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott , Kirk Hinrich
2 Cleveland Cavaliers (33-49) HC- David Blatt
PG- Kyrie SG- Andrew Wiggins SF- LeBron PF- Tristan Thompson C- Anderson Varjao
Bench- Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett, Mike Miller
3 Indiana Pacers (56-26) HC- Frank Vogel
PG- George Hill SG- C.J. Miles SF- Paul George PF- David West C- Roy Hibbert
Bench- Luis Scola, C.J. Watson, Ian Mahinmi
4 Washington Wizards (44-38) HC- Randy Wittman
PG- John Wall SG- Bradley Beal SF- Paul Pierce PF- Nene Hilario C- Marcin Gortat
Bench- Martell Webster, Otto Porter Jr., Kris Humphries
5 Toronto Raptors (48-34) HC- Dwane Casey
PG- K.Lowery SG- Terrence Ross SF- D. DeRozan SF- Amir Johnson C- J. Valanciunas
Bench- Greivis Vasquez, Pattrick Patterson, Louis Williams
6 Miami Heat (54-28) HC- Erik Spoelstra
PG- Mario Chalmers SG- D-Wade SF- Luol Deng PF- Josh McRoberts C- Chris Bosh
Bench- Chris Anderson Norris Cole, Shabazz Napier
7 Charlotte Hornets (43-39) HC- Steve Clifford
PG-K.Walker SG- L. Stephenson SF- M. Kidd-Gilchrist PF- Cody Zeller C- Al Jefferson
Bench- Noah Vonleh, Gary Neal, Gerald Henderson
8 Atlanta Hawks (38-44) HC- Mike Budenholzer
PG- Jeff Teague, SG- Kyle Korver SF- DeMarre Carroll PF- Paul Millsap C- Al Horford
Bench- Thabo Sefolosha, Dennis Schroeder, Pero Antic
9 Brooklyn Nets (44-38) HC- Lionel Hollins
PG- Deron Williams SG- Joe Johnson SF- A. Kirilenko PF- Kevin Garnett C- Brook Lopez
Bench- Mason Plumlee, Jarrett Jack, Mirza Teletovic
10 New York Knicks (37-45) HC- Derrick Fisher
PG- Jose Calderon SG- I.Shumpert SF- Carmelo PF- A. Stoudemire C-Samuel Dalembert
Bench- J.R. Smith, Andrea Bargnani, Tim Hardaway Jr.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS DEPTH CHART AS OF 7-16-14
Head Coach – David Blatt Associate Head Coach – Tyronn Lue
(My projected starters in CAPS)
PG – KYRIE IRVING, Matthew Dellavedova
SG – ANDREW WIGGINS, Dion Waiters, Joe Harris, Carrick Felix
SF – LeBRON JAMES, Mike Miller, James Jones
PF – TRISTAN THOMPSON, Anthony Bennett, Dwight Powell
C – ANDERSON VAREJAO, Brandan Haywood
Keep in mind the versatility of this roster G.M. David Griffin has assembled:
Andrew Wiggins can and will play small forward as well as shooting guard.
Anthony Bennett will swing between the small forward and power forward positions.
Mike Miller will play shooting guard along with small forward.
Kyrie Irving will be used at shooting guard at times.
Dion Waiters will handle the point guard duties at various spots throughout the season.
LeBron James will play the 1, 2, 3, 4 and maybe even the 5 position, depending on match ups.
Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson can both play power forward and center.
A SIX PACK OF POSSIBLE REASONS WHY LEBRON HASN’T MADE AN OFFICIAL DECISION YET
As I told talk show host Ken Carmen last night on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, I can’t figure out what’s taking so long for LeBron James to make this decision. It’s a two horse race. It’s either Cleveland or Miami. What’s the holdup LeBron? You played for both teams, so you know both organizations. You’re a student of the game, so you see the two rosters and understand their cap space availability. So make up your mind already!
It’s being reported that he wanted to talk it over some more with his family. From everything I hear from my sources, they all want him to come back to Cleveland. So what is causing the holdup?
Here are a few reasons, and I know I may be reaching here, but what they heck we have time to kill, as to why maybe LeBron is still undecided, if he really is.
1. Since he’s in Vegas for his skills camp and if he doesn’t know too much about new Cavs head coach David Blatt, might LeBron want to check Blatt out in person on Friday as he coaches the Cavs summer league team in their first game against Milwaukee?
2. Maybe LeBron wants to see Cavs number #1 pick Andrew Wiggins in action going up against the player the Cavaliers passed on in Jabari Parker since the Bucks and Cavs are playing each other to see if he feels new Cavaliers G.M. David Griffin made the right pick.
3. LeBron might also want to get a look at last year’s number #1 overall pick Anthony Bennett to gauge how much he’s improved from his disastrous rookie season, to see if he thinks the kid can play in the NBA.
4. Or “King James” could be waiting on the Cavaliers to swing a deal for Kevin Love, to prove to him that this new regime could follow through on the possible plans they laid out to his agent Rich Paul when the two sides met recently.
5. Is it possible, I guess anything is at this point, that James gave Pat Riley and the Miami Heat once last chance to pull off a major move like maybe bringing Carmelo Anthony to Miami to play with LeBron and D-Wade?
6. How about this one, Nike and the Cavaliers needed more time once they found out where LeBron is going, to get all their TV ads, billboards and other advertising avenues together so they can flood the media market with their new LeBron marketing campaign? And also, maybe LeBron and his team needed more time to get their website ready for the traffic that will be coming their way for when they do make the announcement on his site?
I have no idea if any of these are indeed reasons why LeBron has yet to announce his intentions, but for some reason he hasn’t made the “Decision” public yet, so these were my best guesses. You got anything better?